Award-winning blog – Living in rural Andalucia

The mother of invention

This recipe was born of necessity. As necessity is the mother of invention… it did, of course, turn out rather wonderful. Picture it, a cold winter weekend, we should have gone out to the supermarket but instead we hunkered down in front of the fire. But then we got hungry, very hungry, and so this dish was cobbled together from a vague memory of watching a television chef. We assembled it as follows:-
From the store cupboard: an old [very old, out of date] bottle of Asturian cider [above], and a small carton of longlife nata para cocinar [cream for cooking].
From the freezer: salmon fillets.
From the pantry: Pablo’s potatoes, which we are never without.
From the fridge: a jar of mustard. First, we pan-fried the fish in a little oil in a frying pan. Once the fish was part-cooked, we set it aside. The fish will continue to cook off the heat, so it is important to remove it from the pan early.

To the same pan used for the fish, add a couple of teaspoons of whatever mustard you have [ours was grain] and a good swig of cider. I should add here that this is a ‘glug and a dash’ sort of recipe, no measurements, just add and stir until it tastes right. Add the cream, stir to combine. Put salmon back into the pan and re-heat gently. If, like us, you want to eat this with fried potatoes, you need to start cooking the potatoes first. Peel and cut into cubes, then par-boil them until softening. Drain water from the pan, put on the lid and shake them so the edges are softened. In a large frying pan, heat olive oil and add the potatoes. Fry gently, turning, until golden brown. If your timing is a little misplaced, fried potatoes are forgiving: they keep warm very well in a dish in the oven. We always think we have peeled too many potatoes, and we always eat the lot! 5 to rememberla necesidad – the necessityvago/a – vaguela memoria – the memoryel jefe de cocina – chefla mostaza – the mustard